Day 329 reading

Wisdom·Proverbs 20:20–30

²⁰Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness. ²¹An inheritance gained quickly will not be blessed in the end. ²²Do not say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and He will save you. ²³Unequal weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are no good. ²⁴A man’s steps are from the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way? ²⁵It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly, only later to reconsider his vows. ²⁶A wise king separates out the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them. ²⁷The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being. ²⁸Loving devotion and faithfulness preserve a king; by these he maintains his throne. ²⁹The glory of young men is their strength, and gray hair is the splendor of the old. ³⁰Lashes and wounds scour evil, and beatings cleanse the inmost parts.

New Testament·James 2

¹My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism. ²Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. ³If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,” ⁴have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? ⁷Are they not the ones who blaspheme the noble name by which you have been called? ⁸If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. ¹²Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom. ¹³For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. ¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? ¹⁷So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead. ¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. ²⁰O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless? ²¹Was not our father Abraham justified by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith was working with his actions, and his faith was perfected by what he did. ²³And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴As you can see, a man is justified by his deeds and not by faith alone. ²⁵In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route? ²⁶As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Old Testament·Ezekiel 28–29

¹And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god. ³Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you! ⁴By your wisdom and understanding you have gained your wealth and amassed gold and silver for your treasuries. ⁵By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, but your heart has grown proud because of it. ⁶Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you regard your heart as the heart of a god, ⁷behold, I will bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and will defile your splendor. ⁸They will bring you down to the Pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the seas. ⁹Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you. ¹⁰You will die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of foreigners. For I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.” ¹¹Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ¹²“Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ¹³You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold, prepared on the day of your creation. ¹⁴You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for I had ordained you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones. ¹⁵From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways— until wickedness was found in you. ¹⁶By the vastness of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and I banished you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. ¹⁷Your heart grew proud of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor; so I cast you to the earth; I made you a spectacle before kings. ¹⁸By the multitude of your iniquities and the dishonesty of your trading you have profaned your sanctuaries. So I made fire come from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the eyes of all who saw you. ¹⁹All the nations who know you are appalled over you. You have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’” ²⁰Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²¹“Son of man, set your face against Sidon and prophesy against her. ²²And you are to declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Sidon, and I will be glorified within you. They will know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments against her and demonstrate My holiness through her. ²³I will send a plague against her and shed blood in her streets; the slain will fall within her, while the sword is against her on every side. Then they will know that I am the LORD. ²⁴For the people of Israel will no longer face a pricking brier or a painful thorn from all around them who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.’ ²⁵This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they have been scattered, I will show Myself holy among them in the sight of the nations. Then they will dwell in their own land, which I have given to My servant Jacob. ²⁶And there they will dwell securely, build houses, and plant vineyards. They will dwell securely when I execute judgments against all those around them who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.’”

29In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. ³Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it myself.’ ⁴But I will put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your streams to cling to your scales. I will haul you up out of your rivers, and all the fish of your streams will cling to your scales. ⁵I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and will not be taken away or gathered for burial. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air. ⁶Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD. For you were only a staff of reeds to the house of Israel. ⁷When Israel took hold of you with their hands, you splintered, tearing all their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke, and their backs were wrenched. ⁸Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will bring a sword against you and cut off from you man and beast. ⁹The land of Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it,’ ¹⁰therefore I am against you and against your rivers. I will turn the land of Egypt into a ruin, a desolate wasteland from Migdol to Syene, and as far as the border of Cush. ¹¹No foot of man or beast will pass through, and it will be uninhabited for forty years. ¹²I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolate lands, and her cities will lie desolate for forty years among the ruined cities. And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the countries. ¹³For this is what the Lord GOD says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations to which they were scattered. ¹⁴I will restore Egypt from captivity and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom. ¹⁵Egypt will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the nations. For I will diminish Egypt so that it will never again rule over the nations. ¹⁶Egypt will never again be an object of trust for the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity in turning to the Egyptians. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.” ¹⁷In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the labor they expended on it. ¹⁹Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will carry off its wealth, seize its spoil, and remove its plunder. This will be the wages for his army. ²⁰I have given him the land of Egypt as the reward for his labor, because it was done for Me, declares the Lord GOD. ²¹In that day I will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth to speak among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”